Legend of Linda Walker: Chinese vertical shorts set tempo for future of dramas
MANILA, Philippines — If you’ve been scrolling your feed and chanced upon a meme that hails Linda Walker who scored 719 points in a mock exam, you’ve probably watched a clip or reel of a Chinese short or vertical drama that is fast-becoming or possibly overshadowing regular eight- to 16-episode dramas.
Just like the introduction of the Taiwanese drama “Meteor Garden” and the first wave of Korean or K-dramas in the early 2000s thanks to the “Endless Love” series, "Lovers in Paris," and “Full House,” Chinese shorts or micro dramas are now included in the must-watch list of an average drama viewer.
They are so addicting that people have gone on to download supposed “free” apps only to find that future episodes will need to be unlocked through coins or membership (But for those who know where to look, there are apps and sites that have complete or full episodes free of charge).
What makes these Chinese shorts or micro dramas just as sticky when Korean dramas became popular over two decades ago?
The answer can be justified by their usual run time. Unlike regular dramas with run times of an hour per episode, many Chinese short dramas are, well, shorter than a one-season drama of eight, 12, 14, 16 or 24 episodes. Each episode runs for a 1 to 3 minutes maximum and when they are compiled into a video, the run time will be around 1 to 2 hours.
Imagine sitting or watching for almost two hours and complete a drama that in the past will take eight episodes to finish — introduction of characters, conflict, climax, denouement and resolution in an hour or two. The other important elements (i.e. character building/development and denouement) may be debatable but there are a few in the bunch that have addressed, even if rushed, these key elements.
The vertical or portrait orientation of these dramas is also a key selling point for the majority mobile or smartphone users. With more and more viewers choosing to watch their kind of entertainment on their smartphones while on commute or on office break, the vertical or portrait orientation is fast becoming the standard.
These are the obvious reasons for the rise of short or vertical dramas, particularly those made in China, but the stories or tropes themselves are fast-paced fantasies that do not need a day of binge-watching.
CEO romances and switched at birth, as well as transmigration, are not new. They have always been fan favorites, and they remain a favorite tool to entice viewers to short or vertical dramas.
What makes these tropes sticky for Chinese short or vertical drama fans?
Switched at birth
Linda Walker’s tale has been told many times in countless Chinese shorts or even regular dramas — a girl, oftentimes from the countryside, is discovered as the real daughter of a rich family from the capital city.
She is located and persuaded to live with her biological family, but here is the twist: her family adopted a girl her age who is most often a hidden villain or “green tea.”
The adopted daughter acts nice to others but is mean to the biological daughter and manipulates perception to discredit the real daughter to her real family and to the public.
But Linda, who is not exactly named Linda but is named as such in its English dub, fights back. She’s no country bumpkin who waits to be rescued, she fights for herself. She shows that she can rise above without her family’s backing and name.
Linda shows that with grit, cunning and genius-level intelligence with an IQ of 180, she can break free from her abusive family and make her own name and establish her own empire in the very same capital her biological family once ruled over.
"The Heiress Who Won With Brains" is currently a famous C-drama that tells the tale of Linda Walker or Linda SiWang in the original Chinese drama. It stars Zhang Yifei in the starring role.
Switched-at-birth stories are especially a delight to watch when the protagonist chooses to quash enemies, including illogical family members, with her brains and grit.
Reborn
Who has not wished to undo a wrong or exact revenge? Reborn dramas satiate that need to redo the past or slap (literally!) the hell out of an annoying villain.
Reborn dramas are popular in whatever market, and in many Chinese shorts, they often overarch with other popular tropes.
There will be times that a reborn drama will feature transmigration or time travel elements where the protagonist goes back to a crucial time in her life, and most are anchored on the promise of revenge or undoing past mistakes.
Other reborn dramas are enjoyable in a sense that a female lead goes back in time to rethink her choices, especially when choosing her life partner.
Transmigration / time travel
“Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo” is a perfect example of a transmigration plot, thanks to the rare occurrence of a Blood Moon that IU’s modern-day character, Hae-soo, gets transported back in time to the Goryeo era of Korea, where she meets and falls in love with Prince Wang So (Lee Joon-gi).
The Korean show is another version of the 2011 Chinese drama “Scarlet Heart,” based on the 2005 online novel “Bubu Jingxin” by Tong Hua.
Many Chinese short dramas employ the transmigration and time travel plot but with a twist. Instead of just being transported back in time, most C-drama shorts often feature protagonists entering a fictional book or novel either through death or “reincarnation.”
Just like many dramas, these are set back in the time of princesses, queens and kings where succession is cunningly plotted through marriage alliances and court drama.
Time travel or transmigration are also used in tandem with other reborn C-dramas, where an unsuspecting web novel reader meets an untimely death and her soul gets sucked inside the world of the online novel she read.
Most of the time, these transmigrated characters get to live the lives of characters that bear the same name and face as theirs or they are being controlled by a “system” that makes them do tasks in exchange of a reward.
System or sub-space magic
This trope appeals to gamers because they are familiar with challenges and tasks. In these stories, the protagonist gets stuck in a fictional world, most of the time inside the novel they were reading or have read.
But unlike other reborn or transmigrated dramas, the heroines in “system” or “sub-space” dramas get the upperhand — they are given the advantage of 21st century technology.
The protagonists in these types of dramas are usually female doctors who are mostly surgeons. They typically get entangled with the crown prince, duke, marquis, general, or a noble who initially despises them and is fixated with his "white moonlight," or in Chinese drama parlance, his lost or unrequited love.
Through her 21st century medical skills, gadgets (stethoscope and defibrillator on hand), and mostly disinterest towards the male protagonist for his disrespect and disregard for her (which the male protagonist are stereotyped as seeing the heroine as hard-to-get), the heroine eventually gets the affection of the male protagonist.
The question now at the end of these reborn, transmigrated and system dramas is will the heroine choose to get stuck inside the book after her happy ever after or choose to get back to present time.
Interestingly, most C-dramas recycle these tropes or story device with different sets of actors and actresses portraying the main leads.
It is also important to note that the Chinese are not the only ones who have jumped into making vertical shorts.
There are also shorts or micro dramas made in the West with Caucasian actors. Their plot or tropes focus on mafia, CEO romances and werewolf/mate stories.
The Chinese also have its equivalent that features mythical snakes, dragons and “cultivation” stories where the characters have superhuman abilities.
Filipino media companies, such as ABS-CBN, GMA-7 and Viva, have also begun making vertical dramas starring their own stars from their talent agencies. The stories are mostly grounded in reality, ranging from office romance, hidden identity, and the favorite CEO or poor girl/rich boy storyline.
With an average runtime of just 2 hours with a “finished” story from start to end, it is not a surprise to see these Chinese vertical shorts taking over the viewing habits and preference of many drama viewers.
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